At least 250 bodies found in Gaza's Khan Younis after Israeli withdrawal

Thirty-one homes struck while residents were inside, Gazan authorities said

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Rescue workers recovered at least 250 bodies and 300 injured people after Israeli forces withdrew from Khan Younis on Tuesday following an eight-day offensive on the southern Gaza city, state news agency Wafa reported.

Medical sources said 42 bodies were recovered from Bani Suhaila, a town in eastern Khan Younis where about 90 per cent of infrastructure was destroyed, Wafa reported.

Emergency teams also received reports of at least 200 missing in the area.

The Gaza government media office said Israel "hindered tens of co-ordination operations to retrieve the bodies of the dead and rescue the injured" during the attack on eastern areas of Khan Younis.

The Israeli military shelled 31 homes with residents inside and bombed a total of 320 homes and residential buildings, the media office said.

In central Gaza, nine people were killed in an Israeli air strike on Bureij camp on Tuesday, Wafa said. The bodies were taken to Al Awda Hospital in Nuseirat camp, which has also been targeted by air strikes this week.

Israel earlier struck a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza city, Wafa reported.

Photos shared by the Church of Saint Porphyrius on its Facebook group showed structural damage to the building, including to the roof, and blood on the floor. One image showed what appears to be an artillery shell that had smashed into the floor without detonating.

“We thank our Lord and through the intercession of Saint Porphyrius everyone is fine. We have three moderate injuries. Thank God for everything,” the church posted on its Facebook page.

Director of Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Centre in Jerusalem, Omar Haramy, said he has been unable to communicate with anyone at the church to establish the extent of the damage.

The Church of Saint Porphyrius, claimed to be the world's third oldest, was first struck two weeks after the war in Gaza began on October 7, when at least 16 people were killed and dozens were injured.

The church has since been sheltering hundreds of people seeking refuge from Israeli shelling.

About 39,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, most of whom are women and children, the enclave's Ministry of Health said. More than 90,000 others have been wounded, while thousands more remain under rubble.

The war began when Hamas and allied militant groups attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people.

Ceasefire talks in Rome have also proven unfruitful, after Israel submitted a new draft of the agreement on Sunday which would be discussed in "coming days".

Hamas official Mahmoud Taha told The National the meeting "did not provide anything new".

“[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is hindering the process and the mediators are not putting any pressure on him to show seriousness,” he said.

One of Israel's conditions for the deal was that Hamas provide a list of living hostages to be exchanged with Palestinian detainees, he said. Hamas wants to agree on a list of captives to release, without first informing Israel whether they are alive or dead.

“Netanyahu added another new item, which is a list of the names of living hostages," Mr Taha said. "These conditions were set to obstruct the agreement, and even if Hamas agreed to them, Netanyahu would set new conditions.”